Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

Federal Triangle: 1935

Washington, D.C., circa 1935. "Post Office Department Building (Old Post Office Building or Pavilion). Old (far left) and new Post Office Department." The "new" building, inspired by the Place Vendome in Paris, is now the Ariel Rios Federal Building. 8x10 nitrate negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.

...was outside of the Pavilion on a family trip in 1991. I was twelve at the time. We had just finished shopping and eating lunch there, and left the building when we noticed some Secret Service agents on the street corners. My dad, never one to be shy, walked right up to one and asked him what was going on, and we were told the President was about to pass by. Sure enough, about ten minutes later, here comes Bush Sr. in his motorcade. I thought it was pretty cool.

The view here is looking south on 12th Street NW at Pennsylvania Avenue. 12th Street is now one-way northbound. Peeking down 12th Street between the buildings, the Department of Agriculture is still across the Mall but the view is now blocked by the Museum of American History. 12th Street now exits a tunnel under the Mall.

The Old Post Office is now closed and being converted to a luxury hotel by Donald Trump. In the 1960s the parking area in front of the Old PO was two or three bus lanes, this was the point of origin for Alexandria and South Arlington bound buses. Today the Federal Triangle is a Metro station and EPA offices (the entrances still have "Post Office Deptartment" in stone over doors).

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo archive featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1960s. (Available as fine-art prints from the Shorpy Archive.) The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.